Summer 4th of July Adventure -Day 4

Laramie must be known as a pretty windy place. Kids thought this sign at our campsite was pretty funny.

Ridem' cowgirl Kailyn!

Today we headed over to the Wyoming Territorial Prison/museum in Laramie, WY. There were several famous outlaws housed here at one time, including Butch Cassidy. The prisoners made brooms that were shipped all around the world. It was neat to step back in time and boy did some of those prisoner faces look scarey.

This is a picture of the outside, front entrance to the prison.

Hunter & Kailyn

I love this picture of Alton being a little photographer.

Two little jail birds. They had more fun pretending.

The kids captured Steven!

After the prison, we headed down the street to the Geology Museum at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY. Hunter is really into dinosaurs, so this was a perfect stop for him.

Then we made our way over to Martin's Cove/Devil's Gate area. It was a super hot and humid day, which helped give an even better appreciation for the pioneers. There was a lot of complaining about being too hot, too tired and too thirsty on our short 1 mile round trip hike to Devil's Gate and back. We toured the visitor's center, practiced pulling or pushing the handcarts and then made our short trek.

Entrance to the area.

Alton giving the handcart a try.

Teamwork! For some must push and some must pull.

Of course, Mr. Elephant was their passenger.

Kinley and I brought up the rear.  The necklace around my neck was a pioneer child's necklace that they gave each of the kids (Alton wanted me to hold his).

Heading out to Devil's Gate.

Quite a happy bunch! This was taken before they had to walk.

This is Devil's gate. It was a prominent land marking for the pioneers along the Oregon/Mormon trail.

Kinley wanted to try the handcart before we left.

After this we headed up the road about 20 mins to Independence Rock.  As we made our way up we searched for the white marker posts that showed where the original Oregon trail was. At one point  (known as Rattlesnake pass) we got out to get a closer look at the post and see if we could see some wagon ruts.  There was also a pioneer's gravesite at this spot. Oh boy, we were attacked by prickly weeds and amongst these weeds and the complaining earlier while on our trek, it really gave us a greater appreciation of what the pioneers went thru. It really is amazing what they endured!

As we approached Independence Rock the kids started getting really excited. They couldn't wait to run up on the big rock.  Independence Rock was also an important land mark for the pioneers. Their goal was to make here by July 4th (hence it's name) in order to beat the first snowfall.  It was a place of music and dancing back in the day.  There are many names etched into the rock. Names that dated back to the 1850's. Such a neat historical place.

Pioneer wagon 

And the boys are off and running!

Kailyn found an early pioneer who was here on her birthday, June 10th back in 1853. Her smile says it all. Very cool!

Hunter couldn't wait to fly his airplane on top of the rock.

The trail at the bottom of the rock is part of the pioneer trail.

Kids had more fun trying to catch tadpoles in this little puddle of water on top of the rock.

Kailyn showing off her tadpole.

One of the names from so long ago. What a step back in time.

Kinley sure loved her freedom.

Steven helping Alton try to launch Hunter's airplane.

Fly airple, fly!

Kailyn replacing the flag on top. We were here on July 5th!

This name was carved so professional looking. We were pretty impressed how good some of them looked. We read that some people use to pay to have their names etched into the rock.

After playing around on Independence Rock, we made our way over to Wright, WY. It was beautiful to see the rolling has and wildlife along the way. There wasn't much out there, but that was one of the things I loved the most about it.  As we neared Wright, I was surprised to see what little was there. The town population was 1800, but it seemed a lot smaller. Unfortunately, everything closed at 8:30pm, so we were left to find food in the gas station (lunchables for the kids and hot pockets for Steven and I. Awesome (not)!).

Pulling into town!

This is the junior high/high school.

This is the elementary school Steven attended. He lived here from 3rd grade thru 7th grade.

This dad was teaching his two sons to rope cattle in the parking lot of our hotel. Only in Wright!

Sunset at the gas station.